Posted by Pops2 on 8/16/2010, 1:51 pm, in reply to "Re: Coywolf "160.7.236.185

i think it is more an issue of urban sprawl and lack of human hostility. most studies of coydogs, wolfdogs & such find very little actual hybridization. what they do find is often highly localized and almost universally represents single family units. the NorEast coyote is in fact not ongoing hybridization but the dominance of a hybrid line. that is there was hybridization as the coyotes moved around the north of the lakes. then as they spread the larger size brought on by wolf genes made the hybrids more efficient as predators of large northern deer and gave them a jumpstart on the larger mass typical of northern variants of any animal. by comparison coyotes lacking any wolf genes from IA & the dakotas are significantly larger than coyotes from AZ & so cal (but not as large as the largest wolf line from the NorEast USA & SE canada) simply because the extreme winters make being larger more competitive survival traits.